End of Day Review 2-28-11 Monday

ES had a balanced session today trading from level to level offering some good trading opps. I unfortunately i missed the good runs. I still end the day up but not as much as i should have been. I guess a positive day is a positive day. So i am thankful for it. I see where messed up today and i will take note of it so i can adapt and get better in my trading. There is one good trade that i didn't get filled on but was the trade of the day IMO and that was long at 1320 area. I had my order in and market traded at my price but no fill. Over all im very happy with my levels and the change i made last week in how i get prepared for trading has been helping me to feel more confident before the market opens. Until tomorrow have a good night.

1st trade: I went short at 1328.25 after market hit resistance. I ended up  scratching for + a few ticks because this was a very counter trend trade, everything was pointing up and i only took it because we were chopping around and was looking for a rotation to the downside. I ended up getting out to early but that's ok i would rather be out instead of being in wishing i was out.

2nd Trade:  I took a short at 1325.00 1 tick in front of the 15 min double bottom after the move lower. I was correct in selling the 1328.75 level but didn't hold for the follow through. Then ES sold down to 1323.75 and i took the retrace short at 1325 to join the move lower. Unfortunately i was tied up with work and had to go outside so i move to BE and didn't want to let the trade play out without me watching it and i took the BE and went to  handle my work issues then went to lunch. The market did follow through after touching the 1326 resistance level so trade was a nice one, just work interfered with it.

3rd trade: I took a short at 1323.00 playing the down trend line and resistance area. I was stopped for 6 ticks on this one. I didnt really like it but i think i took it because i was bored and i missed the others. Not a good reason to trade. Any way the context was telling me to stay out of it after testing the 1319-1320 level.

4th Trade: I took a long after the trend line broke so i can join the move up. I had a 3 point target on this one because i believed a rotation back up to the highs of the day was in the cards. The market traded to my target and i didn't get filled so i settled for 2 points at 1325.25.

End of day review 2-18-11 Friday

So the market traded as expected by balancing in a range for the session. At the open we grinded higher into the resistance zone at 1342-1344 where i took a short for 3 points. The situation hasn't changed this week we continue to grind higher and higher on low volume making it a very difficult area to trade. Caution really needs to be taken here and a lot of discipline will keep you out of harm's way. Kev always told me cash is a position and you have to know when NOT to trade. And that is the most difficult part of trading. I had a bad week this week and dug myself into a unnecessary hole if i would have just not traded when i was having them issue with work this week i would have been fine. I did some stupid things and i paid for it. I didn't have to trade especially with me knowing there was nothing to trade with ES being so dead. So next week hopefully ES will be tradable and i will be able to get back what i lost and end the month up. I learned an important lesson this week. In trading you have to except that you will not always be up and when your down you can't let it get to you, once you do it begins to deteriorate your confidence and it seems like you will never be ok again and the end of the world is right around the corner. But this is when you have to dig in and really fall back on your discipline and stick to MM rules. If i was to take one more loser i would have gone on SIM this week till i was able to be confident again. I will see how i do next week and i will be careful and only trade when im not upset about work issues and when the market has something to do. All in all im still pretty new at the game and i know i have a lot to learn. So the journey continues...

1St trade: See trades chart.

Pre Market Analysis 2-18-11 Friday

News: No News out today

Daily chart notes: Same old situation. Big daily wedge and ES grinding higher.

MP Notes: ES closed in the upper part of value yesterday on a P shape day. We had breaking value yesterday and we need to monitor for continued vertical development. Globex has formed value in the upper part of yesterdays range giving us a neutral to bullish macro structure.

Trade plan: As of yesterday ES is starting is starting to show signs of vertical development and we need to monitor for continuation of this. We broke out of the weeks range and consolidated at the highs and globex has consolidated in yesterdays upper value area giving us a neutral to bullish macro structure. The expectation for today is for Es to trade higher into resistance and look for sellers. We have 1340.50-1342.50 level above and we should see a test of this area giving us a rotation to play to the down side. Without any news out today i expect ES to balance in a range most of the day giving little opps to trade. Buyers are still in control and need ES to stay above 1336-1334.50 level to stay in control. If we break down below that we could see ES trade back down to 1325.75-1327.75 level and then 1322.25 which is the lower part of the range that has recently developed.

End of day review 2-17-11 Thursday

ES opened and at first was below pre market resistance which gave me a bearish bias. Then we reversed and trended higher the rest of the day. Not crazy about trading in this area so will be very careful and will wait for something good to set up.

1st trade and only: This trade i took at resistance because i was expecting the market to reverse and rotate lower back to value instead ES decided to go higher and i was stopped for 8 ticks. This is ok for me because i had a plan today and i followed it. This was a case of ES just not rotating and the day turning into a trend type day.

Pre Market Analysis 2-17-11 Thursday

News: Consumer Price Index @ 8:30AM, Jobless claims @8:30AM, Leading indicators @10AM, Philly fed survey @ 10AM

Daily chart Notes: What can i say the picture is still the same. We grind higher on low volume. We are still in thi8s rising wedge pattern and the weeks range is only 12 points. How much worse can it get...

MP Chart Notes: ES closed in value yesterday and at the top of the weekly range. Globex is in a tight balanced area and inside yesterdays value area. giving us a neutral macro and no real bias going into today.

Trade plan: Today's trade plan is to wait for the market to move out of this area for the most part. I fell as if we are going to rotate back to the lows of the weekly range. Today should be the day for the wedge to play out which might give us the rotation back to the lows. So what i see in the context is that buyers are in control (what else is new) and need to stay above 1325-1327 to keep control. A break below 1330.50-1331.50 would be an early sign of weakness. And if we break and hold below 1325-1327 will be a heads up of the sellers possibly taking control. We have a few reports out today at 10AM so we could balance leading up to the release and i will decide what i want to do after seeing the market reaction. Over all im still a buyer of support and i will concentrate on the long side around 1321-1323 a break below that and i will look at 1314-1316

End of day review 2-15-11 Tuesday

So today wasn't a good day for me partly because of work and myself. I didn't get to computer till after 10:00AM and i got a little jumpy and got into a trade to early. That cost me 2 points. Then i got back in which was the correct thing to do but my entry was off and i got stopped again. Then i tried to get short again and took a break even on that one and good thing because market went up. The market balanced again today and tested the 1320-1322 level and went higher from there. That's where i wanted to get long from and i should have waited for my level top trade before i put on a trade. My problem today was i didn't follow my plan and i was distracted with work. But i don't want to blame work alone. I should have followed my plan more importantly. Let's see what tomorrow brings.